The Server Guy

After I got back from my MCSE boot camp I decided I should continue testing for various certifications I should have as a system admin. I have most recently completed a couple of Comptia certifications, so that is what I am going to discuss today.

The first Comptia exam that I pursued was the A+ certification. I opted to test on the 2006 materials rather than the retiring 2003 version of the exam. The first thing I should mention here is that the A+ now has three certifications, IT Technician, Depot Technician, and Remote Support Technician. The certification still consists of two exams. The first exam is a basic knowledge exam that is the same for all three certs. The second exam is where the material covered differs for the certs.

After looking over the topics covered on the first exam for the A+ I decided I didn’t really need to study before taking the exam… after all, I have over eight years of experience in the IT field and the A+ is supposed to test knowledge equivalent to six months working in IT. As I walked in to the testing center I started to think I may have made a mistake by not studying at all. Once I started the exam I realized there was nothing to worry about. I finished the exam in just under 30 minutes (90 minutes are allowed to complete the exam) with a 96%.

I waited a few weeks to take the second exam and didn’t study for that one either. I had similar results as the first A+ exam… actually I scored slightly higher. Since I finished the exam so fast I decided to take the Server+ exam right away (next cert on my list) if I could schedule it from the test center. It turned out I was able to schedule the Server+ exam so I took that right away too. I didn’t do as well on that exam, but I did pass with a decent score (low 80% range). I was surprised at how significant the jump in difficulty there was between the A+ and Server+ exams, not that the Server+ was especially difficult… I just expected it to be easier than it was.

Anyway, I suppose the point I am trying to make is… if you’re in the IT field and are actually good at basic support don’t hesitate to take the A+ cert. There seems to be a lot of concern on how difficult IT certification exams are, when they’re really quite easy if you work in the field and understand the topics covered.

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Recently the data center I work in purchased some new HP c-class blade servers. The specific models ordered are bl465c servers. These servers are some of HP’s most recent offerings.

I expected there would be some minor issues to work through as there are with most new hardware these days. What I didn’t expect was for three of the six servers purchased to be D.O.A… That’s right, half of the new servers purchased had failed hardware out of the box.

Now, I’m not talking about a failed hard disk or something simple that can be brushed off. All three had failed system boards. One of the three is still not functioning correctly, though at least it posts now. We are currently replacing components one at a time to get the system functioning properly.

Situations like this make me wonder how some of these companies retain enough customers to stay in business.

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